1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods of performing live monitoring of a wireless communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, networks can be monitored in a variety of ways to assess performance and find problems. Examples of events or parameters in the network that are monitored can include service measurements (hourly count of various events that happen in a network), per-call service measurements, which involves more detailed and voluminous data that is delivered on a per call basis, various alarms and conditions on a per cell basis, Additionally, network monitoring may include the monitoring of signaling and data channels between a cell and a centralized controller (for example, a mobile switching center (MSC)) or between a cell and other network elements (for example, another cell, or an operations and management server). This allows tracking of much more detailed data, although the comparative cost is substantial (a substantial amount of data to monitor, record, and store, and some methods of monitoring require expensive monitoring equipment which can only monitor a few cells at a time).
Network or service suppliers/providers may desire occasionally to focus on what's going on at a particular local area, such as in a given cell or several cells, rather than across a broader area of network or across the entire network. Local monitoring can be desired to assess the impact of local changes on the network (local changes such as antenna orientation, power setting, internal parameter, etc), and/or how global changes impact a particular trouble/hot spot, or to monitor potential trouble spots and/or to observe the impact of a changing traffic pattern. For example, it may be desirable to evaluate a new pattern of users (new mall, construction at a highway interchange or a new distribution of services, i.e., changes in allocation of voice versus data calls such as evaluating an increase in high-speed data use in business district).
However, conventional network monitoring can be difficult. If the supplier is monitoring only broad network information, any local effects may become obscured; if monitoring cell specific data over a broad network area, there can be a high overhead cost in data collection, processing, resources for collecting data, etc. Moreover, a poor selection of neighboring cells can result in either use of unnecessary resources (too many cells monitored), lack of pertinent information (too few cells monitored), or both (indicative of a poor choice of cells to monitor).